Maggie had her first accident!! Questions...

So we brought precious Maggie home last Saturday, and since then she has been very consistent using the Purina SecondNature Puppy Litter (it's what her breeders used too)... she didn't have a single accident the whole week.... Until tonight!!!

We were hanging out on the bed, watchin' TV.... Hubby called and we were talking for a while, but I kept a close eye on her... next thing I knew she had already made the oopsie (she went #1) :yikes

it's a silk duvet, but she went on the underside which is cotton... I sprayed Nature's Miracle like a madwoman.... My question is though, because of the silk, I'll need to have it dry cleaned....will this get rid of the odor completely??

also, all week, everytime she went on the litter, we first praised her w/ treats every single time.... but because she got so good w/ it, for the past few days we didn't give a treat everytime, but we still gave lots of affection & praise... should we have been more consistent? do treats only? affection only? both? and for how long?? ... any other tips for indoor training and how to handle accidents

i'd appreciate any advice you could give to this first time parent who is feeling pretty confused right now... :?

thanks a bunch!!!

She is just a puppy, don't forget that!! :flwr:
and accidents do happend.

My two are almost 8 months old and they still have accidents in the house every now and then....and even recently on our bed before bedtime. I don't know how to clean silk, sorry!

I love silk & wear lots of it. I wash them with no harm to the fabric.

Rules of owning a puppy:

1) she will have a LOT more accidents in the approx one year it takes for them to get truly reliable. And even then -- expect the occasional 'oops' due to someone not getting her out in time, leaving her too long, her being ill, etc

2) she will destroy things you value by chewing on them over the coming year as well as puppies and chewing go together like love and marriage, horse and carriage. Time to start minimising the chances of getting upset (see below) :lol:

3) I would *strongly advise* removing objects like silk valuables, shoes, good rugs, breakable tchotchkes, etc etc etc that are *in any way* accessible to your dog. This is both precautionary and part of living with a dog, which is kind of like living permanently with a toddler -- they bump into tables, knock things over, chew on table legs, wee on carpets. Things like a discarded sock on the floor or shoelaces can be dangerous to puppies. If a shoe, a glove, a silk top is left on the floor by oversight, expect your puppy to find it and ingest it or gnaw on it. NB these things may never happen but you have to puppyproof a house just as you would babyproof a house -- even to the extent of putting those cabinet sealers on cupboards and removing all poisons, cleaning substances and dangerous items like raisins and chocolate from bottom, dog-level cupboards. Many dogs learn to open cupboards quite easily.

Personal example: I have two hand woven Persian rugs in my house that (on recommendation of several dog owning friends) were rolled up and put away for the first 5 months of my puppy's life. As it was they still were the recipient of various occasional accidents, ill dogs, etc. Even these vegetable dyed, wool carpets held up very well to being cleaned with Nature's Miracle or some commercial variation of it. Actually I now recommend Persian rugs (wool not silk) as being incredibly durable. There are reasons they last 100+ years and remain in Arab families for generations. They are wonderful. But the point is to say: if I had left them down, they would have been wee'd on regularly. There is simply no way that puppies won't have accidents. So if you don't want a silk duvet to risk pee stains and being chewed -- get it up higher so that it is well out of reach of a puppy and reevaluate her reliability in a year's time as to whether you can again put it back down at dog level.

Training to litter also always has its drawbacks -- mainly that you are training a dog that it is OK to go inside. Dogs are not cats and litter is not a natural substance for them. I'd always suggest if at all possible totrain outside from day one and not use these intermediary solutions and keep in mind that if they are to be the normal solution, this is going to get really stinky for an adult dog which does not bury its poops.... and always leaves the dogs viewing going inside as 'OK'.

Like others have said, accidents will happen; it's kind of what puppies do Just a part of raising a puppy that you can't avoid.

Just keep a close eye on her and take her out any time she looks like she is "Looking for a spot". If you don't already know them, you will learn to recognize even the most subtle signs that she has to go. Just takes a lot of patience and persistance.

And read what Karlin has posted about putting those valuables out of her reach. A puppy can destroy things faster than you can imagine. With all the puppies we have in the house every year, we have given up on having anything nice anywhere near where a dog can reach. Just a cost of raising puppies we accept.

Good luck with her!

Karlin said:

puppies and chewing go together like love and marriage, horse and carriage.

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Don't know if it's just puppies. We left Twinkle's favourite cuddly "The Dude" on the kitchen table while we went out last week. When we came home she had tried to eat her way up to him destroying hundreds of euro worth of table in her path :yikes

I agree with all sentiments here - Accidents will happen no matter how diligent you are. In fact, one accident so far sounds like great progress to me!

rest assured, we have definitely puppy-proofed the place from dangerous items... we know she is puppy and needs constant attn. DH and I have even arranged our schedules so that someone is home at all times to take care of our little one. that means mommy works every weekend just so she can be home during the week w/ Maggie!! but it's worth it....

the duvet is not of great value to me, but i just wanted to know how to get the odor completely out to prevent her from smelling it and going again. i guess Natures Miracle and dry cleaning...

as for litter training, we have no choice but for her to just go inside for now... we live on the 20th floor of our building... and i don't want to take her out downstairs before all her shots....plus, even afterwards... we live on a very busy intersection here in the city... there is a small park on the corner, but overall the area is too crowded... it's a moot point anyway b/c we happen to be moving in mid-April to a much more residential area where she will even have a private patio she can go to =) i'm very excited about that.

so, we will have to transition her to go outside. the Purina puppy litter, according to my breeders and the manufacturer, is a great way to transition her from inside to outside. if anyone has any experiences w/ making a transition like this, i'd love to hear about it...

but i would like to mention for other families like us who have no choice but to indoor train, that so far we are very happy w/ the Purina housetraining system. DH really likes this product over wee-wee pads that he used w/ his Pomeranian years ago. it absorbs order extremely well, and as i mentioned, she goes consistently on it (except last night, heehee)... but yes, she is a very good with it. it's amazing.

again, thanks for all the advice and support. any other thoughts are much appreciated.

joanna said:

Karlin said:

puppies and chewing go together like love and marriage, horse and carriage.

Click to expand...

Don't know if it's just puppies. We left Twinkle's favourite cuddly "The Dude" on the kitchen table while we went out last week. When we came home she had tried to eat her way up to him destroying hundreds of euro worth of table in her path :yikes

Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Kosmo got into our spare bathroom last week and hopped up to the toilet paper roll, caught it, and ran throughout my bottom floor.. :yikes I had shredded TP ALL over my house by the time I got home :sl*p: :lol:

gramercy girl said:

the Purina puppy litter, according to my breeders and the manufacturer, is a great way to transition her from inside to outside. if anyone has any experiences w/ making a transition like this, i'd love to hear about it...

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Aww, Maggie had her first accident!! I'm sure it'll happen at LEAST a few more times. She sounds pretty great with the potty training in general!

Our breeder mentioned to me in passing at our first home visit that she starts training the pups with puppy litter (don't know if it's the Purina or what), and has great success with it. I can see in the pics she sends us that it's sitting in their pen at all times. I'll ask her more Q's when we go this weekend and get back to you!

Charlie had a little accident in our bed the first week he was home. We also have a silk comforter and the stain and odor came out no problem with Nature's Miracle. Last year my SIL's big dog came over to our house for the first time and left us a suprise in the bed - a huge puddle of pee. We scrubbed the area and took the comforter to the dry cleaner's. It came back good as new!

Hi Merdie,
sorry to hear that Maggie had her first accident
But they definatly do happen!
Gingers had a few accidents on our bed, and we always wash the duvet cover in natures miracle and have the duvet dry cleaned (the dry cleaners LOVE us!). I think it pretty much got the scent out because she doesnt pee there often, if ever she does, its for a reason (couldnt get off the bed, or wanted to make us pay attention!)
I met someone who got a puppy shortly after me and was using the litter....sounds like a great idea to me. I think the transition will be easy, just as soon as you can take her out, take her and spend time with her outside.
Ginger does both, goes on wee wee pads inside and does her business whne we are outside. We spent plenty of time when she could taking her out for long walks where she had to do her business or hold it. We live on the 11th floor of a building thats about 100 years old!! The elevators are SO slow and I was worried about getting her out in time. It works for us though.
Good luck with the silk im sure it'll be fine!

Sounds like you are doing a great job with your new baby. I don't blame you for not wanting to take her out before her shots, and living on the 20th floor makes it a little more challenging to train a puppy. Like the others said, there will be more accidents, but one day it will just click. Lily is 7 mos old and still has the occasional accident.

Maggie sounds like she is doing very well with her potty training. Bella was also a litter pan girl (the breeder trained her this way as well). I think it has been more of a challenge to get her reliable in the house as a result, but I still think the litter pan was a great idea - especially on rainy days or lazy weekends when we don't feel like putting on a show for the neighbors in our pjs icon_whistling .
We've ordered a product for our new puppy that is synthetic grass type of potty. I'll let you know how it works. I'm hoping that it helps with the house to outdoors transition.

We've ordered a product for our new puppy that is synthetic grass type of potty.

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is that a pet-a-potty?? i was just reading about that! yea let me know how it goes!! i'm very curious about it!

thanks again to everyone for your replies. i love this board!

The one we chose is called the pup-head. :lol: I have seen the pet-a-potty - it looks very nice as well.

I'll be sure to let you know how it works!